r I7&3 



SPEECH 



DN. JAMES DIXON. 

OF CONNECTICUT, 



ON THfi 

THIRTY MILLION BILL 



- t^y 






m 



THE ACQUISITION OF CUBA- 



DELIVERED IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, FEBRUARY 25, I85& 



pe Senate having under consideration the bill to facilitate the acquisition of Cuba 

)IXON said: 

[r% President: I shall attempt to discuss the question now before 
•Senate "with the utmost degree of brevity and condensation to 
|cli I can attain. If I shall find it necessary to crave the indulgent 
[of the Senate for a longer time than has been my custom, I must 
I my apology in the great importance of the subject. 
|W a period of more than three hundred and fifty years, according 
'le laws which are recognized by civilized nations, the Island of 
has belonged to Spain, Her title was originally founded on 
>very, followed by long, uninterrupted, and peaceable possession, 
ring out, as she did, from her rocky peninsula, upon the Atlantic 
kn, the foremost nation of Europe in position as well as in power, 
kent forth Columbus to search for that new world of the existence 
|hich he had convinced that Government. The result oi this great 
Jrprise, in which every other leading nation of Europe refused to 
jicipate, was the acquisition of an empire, richer, if 'not more ex- 
live, than any which ever owned the sway of a single monarch. 
|e portion of the muniments of her title, perhaps we should not 
very much respect. By the bull of Pope Alexander VI., the 
le New World was granted to Spain ; but she actually came to 
|py and possess, not only the Island of Cuba, but the Floridas, 
Jico, California, and the whole of the northern portion of the con- 
it of South America; and afterwards, by cession from France, 
jcame into possession of the whole of the territory of Louisiana, 
iding, as was afterwards claimed by us, as far north as 54° •iO'. 

Printed by Lemuel Towers. 



2 

At the time of our revolution we found her in possession, not only of 
the whole of the western side of the Mississippi, but also of the State 
of Louisiana on both sides of the Mississippi, as far north as that State 
now extends, and about that time she actually undertook to refuse to 
us the right to navigate that river. She intimated to us that in order 
to procure that advantage, the citizens of Kentucky would perhaps 
be willing to come under the jurisdiction of Spain, and she claimed 
that they would make very good Spanish subjects — a compliment 
which tlie Senator from Kentucky, (Mr. Thompson,) the other day did 
not seem disposed to return. He did not believe that Spanish subjects 
would make good American citizens. 

Until about the year 1820, with some slight interruption in 1762, 
when Great Britain took a large portion of the Island of Cuba, (by 
the expedition under Lord Albemarle,) which, she very soon relin- 
quished, the title of Spain to this portion of her territory was undis- 
turbed. I do not find, in any examination of the official or private 
correspondence of any of our statesmen, that any very extensive re- 
mark was made upon that subject until about the year 1820, and sub- 
sequently. Then it became the subject of extensive private and offi- 
cial correspondence, to some portion of which I desire to call the 
attention of the Senate. The Senator from Wisconsin, (Mr. Doolittle,) 
and the Senator from Vermont, (Mr. Collamer,) have already alluded 
to a portion of this correspondence. I propose, a little more fully 
than they have done, to examine it. I shall call attention to some 
points in this connection, which, perhaps, may not have escaped their 
notice, but which their time did not permit them to examine. 

We have heard very much of the pretensions of France and Eng 
land to the Island of Cuba. Those nations have been denounced by 
the honorable Senator from Louisiana, (Mr. Benjamin,) for presuming 
to offer to us a project for a tripartite treaty, by which the three na- 
tions should guaranty the title of Cuba to Spain. I find, on an exami- 
nation of the correspondence to which I have alluded, that the project 
of such a treaty came originally from this country. I find that it was 
first proposed by Mr. Jefferson himself, in a letter written by him to 
Mr. Monroe, in October, 1823. In that letter he says : 

"The foothold which the nations of Europe had in either America is fast slipping from 
nnder them ; so that we soon shall be rid of their neighborhood. Cuba alone seems to 
hold up a speck of war to us. Its possession by Great Britain would, indeed, be a great 
calamity to us. Gould we induce her to join us in guarantying its independence against all 
the world, except Spain, it would be nearly as valuable to us as if it were our own ; but, should 
she take it, I would not immediately go to war for it ; because the first war, on other ac- 
counts will give rt to us, or the island will give itself to us when able to do so." 

. In another letter, he says : 

"It is better, then, to lie still, in readiness to receive that interesting incorporation when 
solicited by herself." 

• Here is a direct proposition from Mr. Jefferson to Mr. Monroe, in 
1823, that we should propose to Great Britain a treaty guarantying 
the title of Spain to the Island of Cuba, and providing that neither 
nation should acquire it. That subject was not there dropped. I can- 
not say whether the idea was originally suggested by Mr. Jefferson 
or not. Perhaps the idea was not new with him. 



//- 



-^ 



pc_ 



W> 3 

^; 

- Mr. Benjamin. "Will the Senator be kind enough to repeat the date 
Q? of that letter ? 

Mr. Dixon. October, 1823. This, probably, had been a subject of 
conversation among official gentlemen. Mr. Jefferson, we all know, 
took a deep interest in everything that was going on under Mr. Mon- 
roe's administration. I find this idea again alluded to, in a somewhat 
different shape, in a letter of Mr. Forsyth to the Secretary of State, 
on the 22d of February, 1822, a short' time before |the letter of Mr. 
Jefferson. In this letter Mr. Forsyth says : 

" In a conversation with one of the members of the political commission of the Cortes, 
I -expressed a conviction that Spain would procure, by an immediate recognition of Co- 
lombia and Mexico, and the adoption of a liberal system of commerce, a guarantee of the 
island from Colombia, Mexico, and the United States ; the three Powers being equally in- 
terested to keep it in the hands of Spain, out of the hands of England, and of each other." 

At that time there prevailed a very exaggerated idea of the impor- 
tance of Colombia and Mexico. Mr. Clay seems to have had that 
idea. He speaks in his correspondence of the immense armies of 
these two nations which would soon be deprived of employment ; and 
the impression then seemed to prevail that Colombia and Mexico could 
unite with us, and, in that way guaranty the title of Spain by a tri- 
partite treaty ; but that, of course, was very soon abandoned. 

I find that, on the lfth of December, 1822,. Mr. Adams, as Secre- 
tary of State, in replying to Mr. Forsyth on this subject, says: 

"Spain, though disinclined to such an arrangement, might resist it with more firmness, 
if, for a limited period of time, she should obtain the joint guarantee of the United States 
and France, securing the island to herself." 

On the 10th of July, 1823, Mr. Appleton writes to Mr. Adams : 

"I have not dared to suggest any, though I should suppose that the United States, or 
the United States and England jointly, might find one, in a guarantee of the island to 
Spain, while in the enjoyment of the provincial government lately decreed for it by the 
Cortes. The present is the moment when such an arrangement might be made with Spain." 

On the 13th of April, 1826, Mr. Clay, then Secretary of State, al- 
ludes to the same subject, in his letter to Mr. Everett. He says : 

"If the acquisition of Cuba were desirable to the United States, there is believed to be' 
no reasonable prospect of affecting, at this conjuncture, that object; and, if there werS' 
any, the frankness of their diplomacy, which has induced the President freely and fully 
to disclose our views, both to Great Britain and France, forbids absolutely any movement" 
whatever, at this time, with such a purpose. This condition of the great maritime Pow- 
ers (the United States, Great Britain, and France) is almost equivalent to au absolute, 
guarantee of the island to Spaui." 

Then he goes on to say that we cannot, in consequence of our 
peculiar policy, (in regard to entangling alliances,) enter into any 
such agreement ; but he considers the then position of affairs, which* 
he was not willing to alter, equivalent to a guarantee. At that time 
our statesmen were very far from supposing that such a proposition, 
would have been anything like arrogance or insolence, on the part of 
Great Britain and France. On the contrary, I think nobody can read 
the correspondence without believing that, if the proposition had then 
been directly made to Mr. Adam's administration, it would have been 
accepted, unless it had been prevented by the great unwillingness of 
our country to form any alliance of this sort. It was considered in 
itself, as it would seem, a desirable proposition. 



Now, pursuing this official correspondence somewhat further, 1 
wish to call the attention of the Senate to two or three other sugges- 
tions which arise in reading it. I find, throughout the whole of the 
correspondence, not only a friendly, and entirely amicable disposition 
manifested towards Spain, but also a continual and constant repetition 
of the idea that, so long as Spain shall hold the island, we shall be 
contented. The Senator from Florida (Mr. Mallory) is very much 
mistaken in supposing that this arose from our idea of the strength of 
Spain. He told us this morning, as he told us in the first part of his- 
speech a few days ago, that, although it is true that at that time, we 
said to Spain we did not desire to interfere with her possession, it was- 
^because she was strong, and was able to retain it. I find that no such 
idea prevailed in the opinions of those official gentlemen who had thi& 
subject under their consideration at that time. Mr, Clay, in his first 
letter on this subject, enlarges on the weakness of Spain, He says : 

" The war upon the continent is, in fact, at an end; and not a solitary fot>t of land, from 
•the "western limit to Cape Horn, owns her [Spain's] sway ; not a bayonet in all that vast 
-extent remains to sustain her cause." 

You will find, in pursuing the correspondence, that the proposition 
is often repeated ; but I do not wish to fatigue the Senate, It is re- 
peatedly stated, that if Spain were not able to retain possession of the 
Island of Cuba, we ourselves would guaranty it to her against all the 
world. She was considered weak, feeble, unable of herself to retain 
it ; and we assured her that there was no necessity, in consequence of 
her feeble condition, that she should suppose herself under the neces- 
sity of yielding it up to France, or any other Power; but that we 
would proteet her against the world in her possession. Thus it will 
be perceived that our established policy was not founded, as the Sen- 
ator from Florida has supposed, on any idea prevailing in this country 
of the strength of Spain at that time. 

I desire, now, to call the attention of the Senate to a few extracts 
showing what was the established policy of the Government down to 
the time of the Ostend manifesto. It was not confined to any one 
Administration. It was not confined to Mr. Adams, or Mr. Clay, or 
Mr. Forsyth, or Mr. Webster, but Mr. Buchanan himself participated 
in it. Mr. Forsyth writes, in 1823: 

"To this plain remark, I could only reply that, without instructions, I could only speak 
of what I supposed to he the wishes of my Government, and believed to be the interest 
of the United States ; that we desired no other neighbor in Cuba but Spain ; that I 
felt confident the United States would do everything in their power, consistent with 
their obligations, to prevent Cuba from being wrested from Spain ; that he was no doubt 
aware that there could be no misunderstanding between the two Governments on this 
point without a reference to Washington." 

This policy of our Government was summed up by Mr. Webster, in 
the year 1843, in his dispatch of January 14, while he held the office 
of Secretary of State. He says : 

"The Spanish Government has long been in possession of the poliey and wishes of thia 
Government in regard to Cuba, which have never been changed, and has been repeatedly 
told that the United States never would permit the occupation of that island by British 
agents or forces, upon any pretext whatsoever ; and that, in the event of any attempt to 
wrest it from her, she might surely rely upon the whole naval and military resources of 
this country to aid in preserving or recovering it." 



In the year 1848, on the 17th of June, Mr. Buchanan wrote to Mr. 
Saunders ; and at this time he seems to have imbibed somewhat of the 
spirit and to have copied somewhat of the manner of* those great 
masters of diplomacy who had preceded him. He says : 

"By direction of the President, I now call your attention to the present condition and 
future prospects of Cuba. The fate of this island must ever be deeply interesting to the 
people of the United States. We are content that it shall continue to be a colony of 
Spain. Whilst in her possession, we have nothing to apprehend. Besides, we are bound 
to her by the ties of ancient friendship, and we sincerely desire to render these per- 
petual." 

He then goes on to say that we can never consent that she shall be- 
come a colony of any European Power ; and adds : 

"Desirable, however, as the possession of this island may be to the United States, we 
would not acquire it except by the free will of Spain. Any acquisition not sanctioned by 
justice and honor would be too dearly purchased. While such is the determination of 
the President, it is supposed that the present relations between Cuba and Spain might in- 
cline the Spanish Government to cede the island to the United States, upon the payment 
of a fair and full consideration." 

He then proceeds to give instructions as to the manner in which that 
negotiation shall be conducted. This policy continued down to the 
year 1854, when you will find, on examination, a sudden and an entire 
change. That was the period of the Ostend manifesto, when three 
gentlemen, clothed in customary suits of diplomatic black, made their 
appearance at Ostend, whence they issued this remarkable document, 
and you will then see an entire change in the spirit of our negotiations. 
If Spain had been aware of the mission of these sable-robed diplomat- 
ists, when they flitted from Aix-la-Chapelle, and alighted at Ostend, 
she might have felt as the Roman shepherd did, when the hoarse note 
of the sinister raven, from the hollow oak on the left, predicted the 
loss of his possessions. "What is now the language used towards 
Spain ? I quote from the Ostend manifesto : 

"Our past history forbids that we should acquire the Island of Cuba without the con- 
sent of Spain, unless justified by the great law of self-preservation. We must, in any 
event, preserve our own co*nscious rectitude, and our own self-respect. 

" Whilst pursuing this course, we can afford to disregard the censures of the world, to 
which we have so often and so unjustly exposed." 

"After we shall have offered Spain a price for Cuba far beyond its present value, and 
this shall have been refused, it will then be time to consider the question, does Cuba, in 
the possession of Spain, seriously endanger our internal peace, and the existence of our 
cherished Union ? 

"Should this question be answered in the affirmative, then, by every law, human and 
divine, we shall be justified in wresting it from Spain, if we possess the power; and this 
upon the very same principle that would justify an individual in tearing down the burn- 
ing house of his neighbor, if there were no other means of preventing the flames from 
destroying his own home." 

The question which he says must be answered in the affirmative in 
order to j ustify us in wresting Cuba from the possession of Spain is 
this : " does her possession seriously endanger our internal peace and 
the existence of our cherished Union ?" That very question they there 
proceed to answer in the affirmative in another part of the same docu- 
ment, I find, in a previous part of the same paper, this expression 
of opinion on the part of its distinguished authors : 

" Indeed the Union can never enjov repose, nor possess reliable security, as long as 
Cuba is not embraced within its boundaries," 



That answers the question which, has been put by these gentlemen, 
most emphatically in the affirmative. That seems to be a decisive 
expression of opinion in regard to the necssity of our occupation of 
Cuba as a matter of self-preservation. 

I do not see how the question could be answered more affirmatively 
than Mr. Buchanan has proceeded to answer it in this Ostend letter. 
Then, in his judgment, the time has actually come when we shall be 
justified in wresting Cuba from the possession of Spain, on the same 
principle that you would tear down the burning house of your neigh- 
to protect your own. Here, then, is an entire and complete change in 
the policy of this Government in regard to the management of this 
negotiation. But the change is not confined to the policy of the ne- 
gotiation, but also extends to the manner of conducting it. Up to 
that time, there had been manifested the most conciliatory spirit to- 
ward Spain ; a careful avoidance of anything likely to wound her 
sensitive honor had been manifested, even by Mr. Buchanan himself. 
Look at his instructions to Mr. Saunders, in the first instance, to show 
how very carefully everything offensive was to be avoided : 

" The attempt should be made, in the first instance, in a confidential conversation with 
the Spanish Minister for Foreign Affairs; a written offer might produce an absolute refu- 
sal in writing, which would embarass us hereafter in the acquisition of the island. Be- 
sides, from the incessant changes in the Spanish Cabinet and policy, our desire to make 
the purchase might thus be made known in an official form to foreign Governments, and 
arouse their jealousy and active opposition. Indeed, even if the present Cabinet should 
think favorably of the proposition, they might be greatly embarrassed by having it placed 
on record ; for in that event it would almost certainly, through some channel, reach the 
opposition, and become the subject of discussion in the Cortes. Such delicate negotiations, 
at least in their incipient stages, ought always to be conducted in confidential conversa- 
tion, and with the utmost secrecy and dispatch." 

"In order to convince him (the Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs) of the good faith 
and friendship towards Spain with which this Government has acted, you might read to 
him the first part of my dispatch to General Campbell, and the order issued by the Sec- 
retary of War to the commanding general in Mexico, and to the officer having charge 
of the embarkation of our troops at Vera Cruz." 

"You may then touch lightly, delicately, upon the danger that Spain may lose Cuba 
by a revolution in the island, or that it may be wrested from her by Great Britain, should 
a rupture take place between the two countries arising'out of the dismissal of Sir Henry 
Bulwer, and be retained to pay the Spanish debt due to the British bond-holders. You 
might assure him that, whilst this Government is entirely satisfied that Cuba should re- 
main under the dominion of Spain, we should, in any event, resist its acquisition by any 
other nation." 

Such was the conciliatory and cautious language of Mr. Buchanan 
in his instructions to Eomulus M. Saunders in 1848. 

Mr. Saunders, in reply, informs Mr. Buchanan how strictly he had 
followed his advice on this subject. He says he made the approaches 
in the most delicate and careful manner ; that in the first interview 
the minister did not know that he actually was talking of cession ; 
that he supposed he was talking of guaranty, so delicately did he 
approach him ; and he says he was satisfied, before the conversation 
with him was finished, that there was no hope of obtaining the island. 
Such, at that time, was the kird, the amicable manner in which the 
negotiation was conducted. Mr. Marcy was somewhat surprised when 
he found that this amicable tone had been abandoned in the Ostend 
manifesto, and administers to Mr. Buchanan and Mr. Soule and Mr. 
Mason a somewhat severe rebuke couched in apparently ironical Ian- 



7 

guage, for having presumed to say that the time might have come 
when we should be justified in wresting the Island of Cuba from 
Spain ; and he expressly instructs Mr. Soule to inform the Spanish 
Ministry that our ancient policy does still continue to exist, notwith- 
standing the tone of the Ostend manifesto might lead him to suppose 
that it had been abandoned by our Government. Now, what is the 
present mode of conducting this negotiation? I have shown you how 
it was formerly conducted, not only as to its ultimate policy, but, also, 
as to the manner of negotiation. The change, I think, is as great in 
the manner as in the ultimate policy. And, in the first place, look 
at the President's message. Instead of the conciliatory tone which 
had been previously held, he begins by exaggerating pending difficul- 
ties. He informs us, in his message, that our relations with Spain are 
very unsatisfactory. He then goes on to state to Congress, in several 
portions of his message, what are the grievances now existing against 
Spain ; and, after all, he only makes out that there is a debt of about 
one hundred and twenty-seven thousand dollars which has not been 
paid ; and he intimates that Spain has a demand against us of a lar- 
ger sum, including interest, in the celebrated Amistad case. In the 
debate which took place in the upper House of the Cortes on this 
subject, the Minister of Foreign Affairs stated that he was utterly as- 
tonished when he read this message, and found that the condition of 
the negotiations between the two countries was not in a satisfactory 
state. He said he was not aware of any cause of quarrel whatever ; 
that everything, as he supposed, had been settled. He received this 
message with astonishment. It was all new to the minister who had 
the care of the matter in Spain. 

Then, how is the question treated in the report of the honorable 
Senator who has reported this bill ? In what manner does he attempt 
to commence this negotiation with Spain ? Does he follow out that 
■conciliatory spirit which has heretofore been shown ? He knows very 
well how to negotiate. When he holds the language he does towards 
Spain, it is not because he is not well aware that it is not the way to 
induce a reluctant nation to part with a valuable possession. I beg 
leave to read a few extracts from that report, to show how the honora- 
ble Senator from Louisiana (Mr. Slidell) thinks it proper to conduct 
this negotiation. This report will be carefully read in Spain. It will 
be there as soon as it can be conveyed, if it is not there already. He 
says, on the twelfth page of the report : 

" But even these arguments will not be pressed upon unwilling ears. Our Minister 
will not broach the subject until he shall have good reason to believe that it will be fa- 
vorably entertained. Such an opportuuity may occur when least expected. Spain is the 
•country of coups d'etat and pronunciamientos. The all-powerful minister of to-day may 
be a fugitive to-morrow. With the forms of a representative government, it is, in "fact, a 
despotism sustained by the bayonet — a despotism tempered only by frequent, violent, and 
bloody revolutions. Her financial condition is one of extreme embarrassment. A crisis 
may arise when even the dynasty may be overthrown unless a large sum of money can 
be raised forthwith. Spain will be in the position of the needy possessor of land he can- 
not cultivate, having all the pride of one to whom it has descended through a long line 
of ancestry, but his necessities are stronger than his will ; he must have money. A 
thrifty neighbor whose domains it will round off is at hand to furnish it He retains the 
old mansion, but sella what will relieve him from immediate ruin." 



Now, it is perfectly evident that the honorable Senator cotild not 
have supposed this to be a conciliatory mode of conducting the nego- 
tiation. He informs Spain that she is in the condition of a bankrupt 
who has parted with the largest portion of his estate, and must now 
sell the remainder in order to gave the family mansion. This idea has 
been followed up here in debate. The other Senator from Louisiana 
(Mr. Benjamin) has taken a somewhat similar course. The Senator 
from Georgia (Mr. Toombs) who, I think, can condense about as much 
contempt and scorn into his language, if he entertains such a senti- 
ment, as any member on this floor, has used very extraordinay and 
remarkable language. He says : 

"Young, thriving, vigorous nations are purchasers; the weak, the feeble, the decrepit, 
are sellers. It has always been so ; it always will be so. When nations begin to decay 
they sell their territory, or it is taken from them by conquest, or even sometimes before 
decay. With a prodigal Administration, improvident rulers sell their territory, as Charles- 
II. of England sold Dunkirk. Decayed nations always sell, and generally do a good thing 
by it ; because what they do not sell is generally taken away from them for nothing." 

That will also go to Spain, with the report of the honorable Senator 
from Louisiana. 

We are told that all this is not insulting ; that Spain has no right 
to complain of it. Now, sir, I have no idea that a proposition made 
in diplomatic language to any nation to sell one of its possessions, is, 
in itself, to be considered insulting or offensive, though it may not 
always be in very good taste. It, perhaps, would not be insulting to 
Great Britain if we should propose to her to buy Jamaica. But if we 
go to a nation and tell her she is a bankrupt and must sell ; that she 
cannot retain her possessions ; that she shall never be permitted to 
sell to any other people than to us ; that if she does not sell to us, we 
will then consider the question whether self-defence does not require 
us to take forcible possession — if we tell her at the same time that we 
have satisfied ourselves that we are bound, as a matter of self-preser- 
vation, to wrest it from her possession — if we tell her furthermore, as 
the Senator from Louisiana tells Spain, that if she will not part with 
it to us, we will encourage a revolution which will subvert her juris- 
diction; I think that then, the negotiation may be considered offen- 
sive and insulting in the highest degree. I think it would be so con- 
sidered in a private transaction between man and man. It is not al- 
ways in very good taste to say to a man, unless you know that he 
wishes to sell his property, that you desire to buy it. If he has told 
you that he considers the proposition offensive ; if he requests yon not 
to repeat it, and you then persist ; if you say you will encourage some 
litigant who will obtain the title, and you will purchase of him if he 
will not sell at your oWn price, I think that, in a private transaction, 
would be considered somewhat offensive. 

It seems, therefore, that the whole mode of conducting this nego- 
tiation has been as offensive as the ingenuity of able politicians and 
diplomats could possibly make it. . I do not see how it could have 
been made more so ; and I am compelled to believe that this has been 
done by design, for I know these gentlemen do nothing by accident, 
I shall revert to this point again ; but I wish here, in this place, bare- 
ly to allude to one consideration that presents itself in the examina* 



9 

tion of these official papers regarding our negotiations with Spain for 
the Island of Cuba. Is Spain willing to sell ? In all this correspond- 
ence she has given us, in every instance, a decided refusal. She told 
Mr. Saunders, when he was commissioned by Mr. Buchanan to make 
the proposition, that under no possible circumstances would she part 
with this island to any nation ; that she would rather see it sunk in 
the ocean than do so. He stated as a reason why the people of Spain, 
as well as the Government, entertained this feeling, that the people 
had no confidence that, if it were sold, one dollar of the money would 
ever go into the possession of the Government ; that it would all be 
taken by the ministers who might then be in power. He said that 
was the feeling of the people of Spain in regard to it, and that was 
one reason why they did not wish to sell. At any rate, a decided re- 
fusal has been given to the offer in every instance ; even to the extent. 
of saying that they would rather see the island, struck out of exist- 
ence and lose its place on the globe. 

It is very difficult for me to believe, when I examine the manner 
in which this negotiation is now conducted, that it can really be in- 
tended to obtain the Island of Cuba. First, consider the publicity 
which has been given to it. In 1848, Mr. Buchanan wrote to Mr. 
Saunders that it was all important that the negotiation should be pri- 
vate. He said, if you make it public there will be a discussion in the 
Cortes. He has made it public in his last message, and it produced, 
the very effect which he imagined it would produce. In 1848 he con- 
sidered such a discussion very much to be dreaded. It has happened 
as he apprehended. I say, therefore, it is difficult for me to believe 
the President of the United States, and the Senators who advocate 
this bill, expect by this means to obtain the Island of Cuba. I am 
driven to the belief that they have some other object in view than 
the acquisition of Cuba. I am driven to the belief that the solution 
presented by the Senator from Michigan (Mr. Chandler) was correct, 
that some party object is intended to be advanced by this measure. 
It is difficult to believe that gentlemen, having high official functions 
to perform, could be influenced to so great an extent by party objects; 
that they should desire by such means to advance the interests of 
their party, without regard to the interests of the country ; but the 
conclusion is forced, upon us. 

It is said there is a political necessity for this measure. I think 
there possibly may be a political necessity as to the party now in 
power, but I can see no political necessity for the country. It may be 
that what is wanted, is what we call here a new "issue," and what is 
called in England a new " cry." I am not sure that the Senator from 
Michigan is mistaken in regard to it. I apprehend, you are not satis- 
fied with the present issue before the country. That has been found 
somewhat disastrous. The Senator from Ohio (Mr. Pug-h) seems to 
intimate that it has been discovered, that whenever there was a disaster 
in the Democratic party, there was a mode of healing it ; that a remedy 
may be soon provided ; and what is that remedy ? A proposition to 
annex some foreign territory. He intimates that, by u the blindness 
of the Opposition to this measure, the Democratic party may recover 



10 

from any mistake, or defeat, or disaster. I am inclined to think 
that that is the political necessity which now prevails, and that there 
is no other. I am led to this conclusion also by the details of the bill 
which the honorable Senator from Louisiana has reported from the 
Committee on Foreign Kelations. The details of the bill, the manner 
in which this money is to be raised, are such as must surprise every 
Senator. How is it proposed to raise $30,000,000 to be placed in the 
hands of the President % I read from the bill : 

" Provided, That if there should not he in the Treasury a sufficient amount unappro- 
priated to meet the demands above called for, the President of the United States be, and 
hereby is, authorized, at any time within two years from the passage of this act, to bor- 
row on the credit of the United States, a sum not exceeding $30,000,000, or so much 
thereof as may be required for that purpose, redeemable in not less than twelve, nor more 
than twenty years, and the Secretary of the Treasury be, and hereby is, authorized, with 
the consent of the President, to cause certificates of stock to be prepared, which shall he 
signed by the Register, and sealed with the seal of the Treasury Department, for the 
amount so borrowed, in favor of the parties lending the same: Provided; That no certifi- 
cate shall be issued for a less sum than $1,000." 

Has there ever been a loan bill of this kind which contained no re- 
striction whatever on the President, which did not provide in any 
manner for the amount of interest to be paid, for the mode in which 
these securities should be issued. 

Mr. Slidell. Will the Senator pardon me for interrupting him ? 
The bill does contain a restriction on the interest ; that it shall not 
be a greater rate than five per cent, 

Mr. Dixon. I have the bill before me, and it contains no such pro- 
vision. 

Mr. Slidell. There was a mistake in the printing, but it has been 
corrected. 

Mr. Dixon. I am glad that has been provided for \ I thought it 
a singular thing that the President was not limited as to the rate of 
interest, to be paid for the money he was authorized to borrow. It 
still appears that he is authorized by the bill, without the slightest 
knowledge on the part of anybody, at any time to issue certificates 
of stock for $30,000,000 to any person, without requiring bids, or 
imposing any restriction whatever, except as to rate of interest. If 
the Senator has provided for that, he has certainly acted wisely. But, 
sir, the bill contains no provision for public notice of the issuing of 
the loan ; no restriction on the President except as to the rate of in- 
terest. He can, at any time, issue bonds to any person without offer- 
ing for bids. Well, sir, with the money received in this way, I very 
much doubt whether it is the belief of the President, or any of the 
distinguished gentlemen who have advocated this bill, that they can 
acquire Cuba. In short, I understand the Senator from Florida to 
gay expressly, that it cannot be acquired for money. If I have not 
misunderstood him, he has directly asserted it to be his opinion that, 
under no circumstances can we purchase the Island of Cuba from 
Spain by money. 

Mr. Benjamin. I do not see the Senator from Florida in his seat, 
but I heard him very distinctly ; and I am sure his statement was. 



11 

that any proposition for the purchase of the Island of Cuba must be 
accompanied with a commercial treaty ; that money alone would not 
buy the island ; but that money, connected with a commercial treaty 
satisfactory to the people of Spain, would acquire the island in his 
judgment. 

Mr. Dixon. I understood him as the Senator from Louisiana did. 
I understood him to say that the money was a very trifling consider- 
ation ; and I understood him to say that, by money, it could not be 
acquired, but that a commercial treaty must also be made. I further 
understood him to say that the money, if paid, would not inure to the 
advantage of the people or the Government of Spain ; but thatit would, 
in transitu, pass into the hands of persons who were not entitled to 
it ; and that the commercial treaty was the great object by which the 
acquisition of Cuba could be accomplished. 

Well, sir, if we place $30,000,000 in the hands of the President, if 
he cannot acquire Cuba with it, he can certainly do something. That 
is a sum with which great ends and objects may be accomplished, 
though it may not purchase Cuba. Now what will probably be those 
ends and objects? The President of the United States the other day, 
sent us a message which, I think, was the most remarkable commu- 
nication that ever was presented to the Congress of the United States, 
by the Chief Executive officer. In my opinion it has not excited all 
the surprise and all the attention which it ought to excite. I confess 
that I heard it read, and I have since read it with astonishment. In 
that message the President of the United States asks Congress to in- 
vest him with certain powers which he does not now possess. He 
says: 

"It (the Executive) cannot legitimately resort to force without the direct authority of 
Congress, except in resisting and repelling hostile attacks. It would have no authority 
to enter the territories of Nicaragua, even to prevent the destruction of the transit and 
protect the lives and property of our own citizens on their passage." 

Again, he says on the next page : 

"Without the authority of Congress, the Executive can not lawfully direct any force, 
however near it may be to the scene of difficulty, to enter the territory of Mexico, Nica- 
ragua, or New Granada, for the purpose of defending the persons and property of Ameri- 
can citizens, even though they may be violently assailed whilst passing in peaceful tran- 
sit over the Tehuantepec, Nicaragua, or Panama routes. He cannot, without transcend- 
ing his constitutional power, direct a gun to be fired into a port, or land a seamen or 
marine to protect the lives of our countrymen on shore, or to obtain redress for a recent 
outrage on their property." 

That is what he cannot now do, under the Constitution. Let us 
see what he says he will do. He first states what he has no power to 
do ; he has given you correctly the limit which the Constitution has 
placed upon him. Now, I ask the Senate to give their attention, 
while I read to them what the President of the United States informs 
them he will do, although the Constitution does not give him the 
power. Here it is : 

"It is true that, on a sudden emergency of this character, the President would direct 
any armed force in the vicinity to march to their relief; but in doing this he would act 
upon his own responsibility." 

He has no power to redress the wrongs of an American citizen in 
a foreign country. The Constitution does not confer on him that 



12 

power. To do so would be to violate the Constitution ; to do so would 
be to violate his official oath ; and yet he informs us that whenever 
the event occurs, whether or not we grant the power, he will take the 
responsibility of exercising it. I do not know how that may have 
fallen on the ears of the Senate of the United States, but I confess it 
struck me with more surprise than any sentiment I have ever heard 
avowed here or elsewhere ; that the President of the United States 
should come to Congress, and, while asking for power to redress in- 
juries of citizens of this country; not for self-defence — the Senator 
from Vermont (Mr. Collamer) showed us the other day that he was 
not asking power to prevent an injury, but to redress it — that he 
should ask for power to take vengeance into his own hands ; and, at 
the same time, tell us that whether we give him that power or not, 
he will assume the responsibility of exercising it, in violation, as he 
acknowledges it to be, of his official oath ! 

If this is not despotism, I confess I am entirely ignorant of what 
constitutes it. The Senator from Illinois, (Mr. Douglas,) as I under- 
stood him, advocated and sustained the whole of this message in its 
entirety. He said that he would not only give the President the 
power which he asked for, a limited power in certain instances and 
in specified countries, to use the Army and Navy of this country, but 
that he would give it to him for all countries and for all time. I 
have not the Constitution of the United States before me, but I think 
the language of it is, that " Congress shall have power to declare war." 
The war-making power is vested in Congress by the Constitution. 
"What, then, is the meaning of a law of this kind ? Suppose you were 
to add to the clause of the Constitution giving Congress the war- 
making power, a proviso of this description : "except that the President 
of the United States shall, at all times and in all countries, be author- 
ized to use the land and naval force of the United States to redress 
any injury which any citizen of the United States may have suffered:" 
where would that leave the war-making power % It would be taking 
it from Congress and vesiting it in the President of the United States; 
or, if not taking it from us, it would be sharing it with him. This I 
understand to be the doctrine avowed by the Senator from Illinois ; 
but as he is not present, I will not dwell on it. It is a doctrine wholly 
subversive of the principles of our Government. 

The question recurs, what can the President of the United States do 
with this money ? He has told us what he will do in his special mes- 
sage. "Well, sir, give him $30,000,000, and what will be the result? 
He says he will violate the Constitution of the United States : he says 
he will avenge the wrongs which he claims are Constantly committed 
against citizens of this country, whether the power is given to him by 
Congress or not. He requests us to give him the power, lest he should 
be driven to take the responsibility of violating the Constitution ; and 
he asks us in connection — for the two messages are to be taken to- 
gether — to place in his hands $30,000,000, for the purpose of negotia- 
ting with Spain for the acquisition of Cuba. How the negotiation 
will be conducted, I think I have shown you. I do not stand here 
to bring any unfounded charges against the President. I have read 



13 

his message. I have stated to you what he therein informs you he 
will do. I think 3'ou may very fairly infer what he will do if he re- 
ceives these $30,000,000 that he asks for, although Congress may not 
pass the act authorizing him to take the course which he indicates to 
you that he will pursue. I say here, on my official responsibility, 
that, reading these two instruments together, I should not dare to trust 
the President of the United States with the power of using $30,000,000 
in this manner. Taking his own language, I should expect him to in- 
volve the country in war. If there were no other reasons, I would 
not place this money in his hands. 

But, sir, leaving this branch of the argument, and supposing, now, 
for a single moment, that it were possible to purchase Cuba; suppos- 
ing it could be purchased for $120,000,000 or $200,000,000— the Pre- 
sident has indicated in one of his dispatches, I think in the instruc- 
tions to Mr. Saunders, what he would be willing to give; and I be- 
lieve, by calculation, it was shown at that time to be $120,000,000; 
probably the sum now required would be at least $200,000,000 ; { but, 
whatever it may be, suppose that, with the money now proposed to 
be placed in the hands of the President, the acquisition of Cuba 
might be accomplished : what are its advantages, as stated in the ar- 
guments principally relied on in the Senate ? The Senator from Loui- 
siana (Mr. Benjamin) has discussed that subject with great ability, I 
might say with more than his usual abitity ; and he has frankly stated 
to us what is the object to be gained by the acquisition of Cuba ; and 
why it is that the people of the free States are asked to contribute of 
their resources $200,000,000 for the acquisition of this island. I will 
state it in his own language. He says : 

"The leading fact, "which ought to be kept constantly in view by all who would form 
just conceptions on this subject, is, that the wealth and productiveness of this island have 
been created, and their continuance can only be secured, by a system of compulsory 
labor." 

How is it to be accomplished ? How is " a system of compulsory 
labor" to be continued in Cuba ? The Senator has told us — he says : 

"I now proceed to inquire from what source an adequate supply of this compulsory 
labor can be obtained. I know, sir, of but three possible methods : 

" 1. The actual increase of the slaves already there. 

"2. The introduction of persons bound to service, under the name of apprentices, or 
coolies, or colonists. . 

"3. The African slave trade, which is the present method." 

He also gives, in another place, a fourth mode— acquisition by the 
United States, and the introduction of slaves from this country, and 
of our slave system. 

These are his four modes of continuing compulsory labor in Cuba. 
The first, by natural increase, he says is impossible, under the present 
state of things. Probably it is. The second — the importation of 
coolies and apprentices — he says has been abandoned for its inhu- 
manity. The third — the African slave trade — must at some time 
cease. It cannot always go on. It may be many years— it may con- 
tinue for generations to come ; but the time must arrive when that 
traffic will cease. Then what remains ? There is but one mode. An- 
nexation to this country is the only mode of perpetuating slavery in 



Cuba. That, then, is the object of the bill ; and in that point of view 
I am very willing to present it to the northern people. It is to per- 
petuate slavery in Cuba, that the people of the JSTortli are requested 
now to contribute of their means for this acquisition. I think the 
Senator from Louisiena will admit that I have stated his argument 
fairly. There is no other object to be accomplished. This is the great 
cardinal point that must be- kept in view. It is for this purpose — to 
perpetuate slavery in Cuba — that we are asked to appropriate this 
money. Why should we do it ? 

In the first place, the honorable Senator has drawn a picture of the 
effect of emancipation in the West Indies. He has painted it with. 
the matchless skill of an artist who excels in coloring as well as in 
composition. I do not deny that he has shown a state of things ex- 
isting there very much to be regretted by all lovers of humanity. 
That it has been caused by the emancipation, I by no means admit. 
But suppose you admit that the free negroes of the Island- of Jamaica 
are in a condition of distress unparalleled by that of any people on 
the face of the earth; what does that prove? It does not tend to 
prove that we ought to acquire Cuba. If it proves anything, it proves 
that we ought to acquire Jamaica, and right that wrong, if such it be. 
Why do not the Senator from Louisiana and his distinguished colleague 
propose that we should restore the blessings of slavery by the acqui- 
sition of Jamaica ? Why not go to Great Britain, and say to her, 
" You have Africanized the Island of Jamaica ; you have imperiled 
our institutions, and, therefore, from necessity, for the sake of self- 
defence, we must obtain from you that island ; if you do not sell it to 
us, you shall to no other nation ; we will give you such a sum as we 
think proper ; your national debt is immense ; you are bankrupt ; sell 
it to us or we will wrest it from you." The reason why that is not 
said, is obvious, and I need not state it. England may abolish slavery 
in all her territories ; and you will never hear either of the Senators 
from Louisiana say to her, "You are imperiling our institutions by so 
doing ! " No, sir ; they will submit ; they have submitted, either be- 
cause they think it does not imperil their institutions, or for some other 
reason satisfactory to themselves. There is no danger that this coun- 
try will ever be involved in war because Great Britain has seen fit to 
Africanize Jamaica. There is no danger that you will ever present 
to her the considerations which you are presenting to Spain. Such 
language as has been used in this report, will never be used towards 
Great Britain, for reasons which I think are quite obvious. 

Then, if this argument proves anything, it proves that we ought to 
take the Island of Jamaica. It does not tend at all to prove that we 
ought to take the Island of Cuba ; because Cuba is not on the eve of 
emancipation ; there is no project, as I understand, for the emancipa- 
tion of the slaves there. The Senator from Louisiana informs us that 
the blacks of the Island of Jamaica are in the miserable condition to 
which I have alluded. If it were a subject that I wished to pursue, I 
might show him that the blacks on that island, although in the condi- 
tion described by him, are not alone in misery ; that the whole race 
are more or less in a suffering condition all over the world. Go to 



15 

Cuba, where slavery exists, which the Senator has argued, is a great 
blessing to the blacks; I have here a work which describes the condi- 
tion of the slaves on the sugar plantations in Cuba. I do not now wish 
to detain the Senate with it ; but I could show that, if emancipation 
in Jamaica has caused great distress among the blacks, slavery in 
Cuba has overwhelmed the black race in distress indescribable. 

Mr. Benjamin. I do not desire to interrupt the Senator's speech ; 
but I will suggest that if he prove that, he follows out the line of my 
argument precisely. I stated that the negro slaves, under the Cuban 
system of slave labor, were exterminated in every generation. 

Mr. Dixon. I know very well that the Senator argued that their 
condition would be improved by annexation to the United States, and 
I shall attempt hereafter to show that that will not be the case. I 
was barely saying now, that if the free blacks of Jamaica are great 
sufferers, if their condition is such as has been described — I might 
show the same thing as regards the slaves in Cuba, and I dare say, 
if I were to follow it up, the slaves everywhere else in the world. 
I think it could be shown that a want of ventilation, and every other 
physical evil to which the Senator alluded in that connection, exists 
m this Very city of Washington, and in many other portions of the 
country ; but I do not wish to follow out that line of remark in this 
stage of my argument. 

Sow, sir, how would you improve the condition of the slaves in 
Cuba by annexation to this country ? That, it is true, is one of the 
objects which the Senator from Louisiana told us he had in view in 
the acquisition ; but how will he do it ? I suppose the Senator would 
say that, by increasing the value of the slaves which would result 
from the abandonment of the slave-trade, the interest of the owners 
would require of them to afford to the slaves better treatment than 
they now receive, and that is probably what he means when he says 
the advantage of American institutions would be extended there. I 
suppose his idea is that slavery would exist there as it does here, and 
that self-interest here induces owners to treat their slaves well, in con- 
sequence of the great value of their property. His great means of 
accomplishing the object of the improvement of the condition of the 
slave is by affecting the interest of the owner. This is to be done by 
abolishing the slave-trade with Cuba, by making the slave more 
valuable, by introducing our system of slavery. 

I think, however, that the Senator from Yermont was entirely right, 
when he argued to the Senate that the acquisition of Cuba would not 
tend to the abolition of the slave-trade, In the first place, it would 
seem very strange if increasing the value of the slaves, and thus in- 
creasing the inducement to import them, would tend to suppress the 
slave-trade. We know that if you raise the price of slaves in Cuba 
from $500 to $1,500, you treble the motive which already leads to 
their illegal importation at every hazard. 

But, sir, how will you, by the acquisition of Cuba, suppress the 
slave-trade? What are you doing now? The British Government 
have a portion of their fleet on the coast of Cuba for the suppression 
of the African slave-trade. Our treaty with Great Britain requires 



16 

us to keep some portion of our fleet on the coast of Africa, for the 
same purpose. There is, besides, in the island, a mixed commission, 
partly British and partly Spanish, the object of which is to try offend- 
ers against the laws prohibiting the slave-trade. Acquire Cuba, annex 
it to this country, and the British fleet must leave; we will not brook 
the presence of British men-of-war on that coast any more than we 
would on the coast of Georgia or Florida. The British fleet must then 
be removed. I take it to be an undeniable fact, that a very large 
portion of the slave-trade is now carried on against the efforts of the 
British and the American Governments, by the abuse of the Ameri- 
can flag. I find that in 1838, nineteen vessels laden with slaves 
from Africa, came into Havana under the American flag. One, in 
particular, the Yenus, attracted great attention, and landed its cargo 
of Africans under this protection. When the mixed commission 
notified our consul, then Mr. Trist, of this transaction, and called 
his attention to it, and requested him to use the authority of this 
Government, what position did he take ? Mr. Trist said it was an 
interference with the independence of our Government for that com- 
mission to dare to call his attention to that subject. We had then 
been independent some sixty years, and it does seem to me to be 
about time for us to cease our sensitiveness on the subject of our in- 
dependence. I do not £nd that Great Britain and France, and other 
nations, are sensitive lest they should not be considered independent 
nations ; but our consul said we could not take notice of this call on us to 
examine the subject, because it was a violation of our independence. 
The American ship to which I allude, landed eight hundred and fifty 
slaves in the face of our consul. She started from the coast of Africa 
with eleven hundred and fifty, and landed eight hundred and fifty 
alive in Cuba. 

Yery soon after, a French ship came in loaded with eight hundred 
slaves, and the mixed commission called the attention of the French 
consul to the subject. Had he any fears in regard to the inde- 
pendence of France being violated by that notice being given to 
him ? Not at all. He called the attention of the Prince De Joinville, 
who was there in command of one of the vessels of France, and a 
serious and earnest attempt was made, which I am sorry to say was 
unsuccessful, to arrest the owners of the slave ship. I say, then, that 
this trade is carried on now under the American flag ; and what are 
we doing? We will not permit any search of an American vessel. 
There is no subject upon which we are so sensitive as the right of 
search. I confess that I think it has been carried to a great extreme. 
I understand the doctrine to be that an avowed slaver, carrying at its 
mast-head the American flag, is safe against the visitation and search 
of a British ship. That, I believe, is the modern doctrine, and we 
have driven Great Britain to accept it. I am not in favor of it. I 
think it is going too far; but that is the prevailing doctrine. Now, 
I do not suppose the British Government would attempt to visit any 
acknowledged, known slaver, or interfere with her in any manner 
whatever, although loaded down with African slaves, if the Ameri- 
can flag, without right, wrongfully desecrated and abused, was float- 



17 

ing at her mast-head; and if, to-day, information was to come tons 
that the British Government had inferred with such a vessel, I think 
you would find southern Senators on this floor ready to declare war 
on the instant. 

If such is our feeling, if our flag is desecrated in that manner ; if 
it is desecrated with our consent and connivance — for how else can 
you consider it? — how can you expect the slave-trade to stop? Here 
is our flag, the most glorious on the face of the earth, which is an 
entire protection to the slave-trade, anywhere on the broad ocean. 
As I understand our doctrine in regard to the right of search, the 
American flag anywhere protects the slave-trader, and I do not wonder 
that the trade goes on. I do not see how it can be considered that 
this Government, taking this ground, is desirous to check the slave- 
trade. But it is said the trade never has existed with any portion of 
our own country. I agree that it has not, until recently, and there 
are several reasons for that. The people of the South do not take the 
ground that the slave-trade is against humanity ; I do not recollect 
that I have ever known that argument to be made in the South. I 
believe, as a general thing, the ground taken by the South is, that 
the condition of the native wild Africans, on the shores of Africa, is 
improved, by being brought into this country and subjected to slavery. 

Then, if the slave trade is to be stopped by the acquisition of Cuba, 
it is not to be done from humane considerations ; it is to be done be- 
cause the interest of the parties requires it. I think that is the prin- 
cipal reason why the trade has not been carried on with our southern 
States. But look at the recent case of the Wanderer. You find there 
a cargo of slaves brought into the southern country. You find that, 
for a long time, one of the distinguished judges of the Supreme Court 
of the United States, sitting in the circuit court, could not succeed in 
impanneling a grand jury who would find a true bill of indictment 
for the offense. I think that distinguished judge would have been 
very glad to bring these malefactors to justice ; but the grand jury 
would not find a bill. I understood, recently, from the Senator from 
South Carolina, that, in another portion of that State a bill has been 
found. But where are the Africans who were imported ? It is said 
they cannot be found; they cannot be identified. Suppose a cargo of 
fugitive slaves had been restored, under the fugitive slave law, and 
brought into a port in Georgia or South Carolina : do you think they 
could not have been identified ? Is there any difficulty in identifying 
slaves, if there is a desire to identify them ? The fact is, these Afri- 
cans were thrown into the masses of the black population ; mingled 
up with them ; and, it seems to me, by the consent, and the conni- 
vance, of the southern people. It is useless to say to me that they 
do not know where these slaves are. They do know where they are; 
they can produce them if they will. Why they do not, is for them 
to answer. I have no doubt they will easily identify a cargo of five 
hundred fugitive slaves, and visit them with condign punishment. 
They are well known ; but they are not so well marked, not half so 
distinguishable, as Africans freshly imported from the coast of Africa. 

I say, then, that is a pretext. They can be known ; they are known. 



18 

At this day, they are laboring on the fields of the southern conn- 
try, perfectly well known to be imported slaves from Africa. The 
southern people say it betters their condition ; but if you desire to 
to check the slave-trade, you can do it. It is a bare question for 
the southern people to decide. ' I do not think the northern people 
can check it; I do not see very* well how we can prevent it. I think 
the citizens of the South, of Georgia, of South Carolina, and Yirginia, 
must decide for themselves, if they desire to restore the slave- 
trade. I do not see how this Government can prevent it. At any 
rate, it would test the powers of the Government to do it. I do not 
believe the present Administration would make the attempt, though 
I do not mean to say they are not doing their duty, so far as the pun- 
ishment of the persons connected with that ship are concerned. I 
have been told they were. I have been told that process was now 
being pursued. I have no doubt that the judge, to whom I have al- 
luded, did his whole duty on the subject. 

It seems you cannot identify the slaves brought in the "Wanderer. 
Now, suppose you annex Cuba to this country: I beg to know how 
you will identify the slaves brought into Cuba? I wish to know if 
you will desire to abolish the slave-trade there, more than in your 
present country ? Every possible motive you have now to encourage 
it, will exist in a tenfold stronger degree than at present. The price 
of slaves will perhaps be doubled ; it will certainly be increased to a 
great extent, in consequence of the demand there existing to fill the 
places of those slaves who, we are told, are no longer to be brought 
from Africa to the Island of Cuba. If you stop the African trade, 
then, of course, you must have it from this country. I am free to say 
that if the slave-trade must continue with the Island of Cuba, and the 
question is presented to me whether it shall be with this country or 
with Africa, I should hesitate very much, before I should say that I 
would prefer it to go on from this country. Senators say the slave- 
trade will stop as relates to Africa, and commence as relates to this 
country ; that you are to take your slaves from the United States into 
the Island of Cuba. Now, without indulging in any incendiary re- 
marks in regard to the right of the slaves of this country, I think I 
may be justified in saying that they have some claim on us. They 
are faithful, they are industrious, they are docile ; they are now per- 
forming their duties all over your southern fields, knowing very little 
of what is going on here. I undertake to say that if this black popula- 
tion, now' cultivating your fields, knew that this proposition was here, 
all their interests would be awakened. If they supposed the question 
was whether the slave-trade should cease from Africa and should 
commence from this country ; that the question was, whether Cuba 
should be supplied with slaves from there or from here, they would 
be listening with all the attention they could give ; and if they found 
that the Congress of the United States were about to pass a law, which 
would lead to the transportation of themselves, or their children, to 
Cuba, I say to you that, from that whole black race, there would as- 
cend to Heaven a more piteous cry than ever pierced the skies. 
They have rights here, and we ought to consider them. Will you 



19 

supply the labor of Cuba by slaves born, not in Africa, but in this 
country ? Shall they be subjected to that horror ? I will not attempt 
to describe it. Southern Senators know better than I do, how these 
Africans feel when they are carried to the Red river. They know 
what sort of punishment it is for certain portions of the African race, 
now held as slaves in this country, when they are transported from 
the homes to which they are as much attached as we are to our own, 
growing there, perhaps, with a stronger root than we do, with stronger 
social feelings, with warmer affections, with local feelings as ardent 
as our. You know, Senators from the South, how these slaves feel 
when they are transported to another country; and you know per- 
fectly well what a state of things would exist if they were liable to be 
transported to Cuba. I do not wish to dwell on it ; but I say, to-day, 
my preference is, if Cuba is to be supplied with slaves from any other 
country than itself, that it should not be from this country. I would 
stand here and give my vote and my voice, in support of the claims 
of the colored men of the South. The slave-trade is sufficiently hor- 
rible in Africa ; but for that we are not wholly responsible ; let it 
never be carried on from this country. 

I do not believe, then, that the slave-trade would be in any sense 
checked by the annexation of Cuba to this country. I acknowledge 
that that has been in the minds of many ; and it was, at one time, 
in my own mind, an argument in favor of the acquisition of Cu- 
ba. Before I examined it, I had a vague idea that it might tend to 
abolish the slave-trade ; but, on examination, I think, on the contrary, 
it would remove obstacles now in the way of the trade. 

But, sir, the Senator from Louisiana informs us, that unless we can 
perpetuate slavery in the Island of Cuba, the civilized world must 
give up the use of tropical productions to a great extent. He says 
tropical productions cannot be produced to an extent commensurate 
with the wants of the world, without compulsory labor in Cuba. I 
think it can be shown that the Senator is mistaken. I have no idea 
that, if Cuba was to-day stricken from the face of the globe ; if she 
was where the Spanish say they would rather she should be, than come 
into our power — at the bottom of the ocean — I have not the slightest 
idea that the supply of tropical productions, especially sugar, would 
be wanting to the world. In the first place, let us see whether it be 
true, that sugar is only raised by slave labor, and in slave countries. 

I understood the Senator from Florida, this morning, to say that it 
could not be raised by white labor ; but perhaps I misunderstood him. 
I have before me a book of travels in Cuba and Porto Rico, by David 
Turnbull, published in 1840, from which I desire to read a few ex- 
tracts on this subject, as to whether the world is dependent on com- 
pulsory labor in Cuba, or on the existence of Cuba at all, for its sup- 
ply of tropical productions. He says : 

"The most remarkable fact connected with the history and the present state of Porto 
Rico, is that the fields are cultivated and sugar manufactured by the hands of white men 
under a tropical sun. It is very possible that this might never have occurred had not the 
island been treated as a penal settlement at an early period of its history. The convict3 
themselves were condemned to hard labor as a part of their punishment ; and when the 
term of their sentence expired, they were compelled to continue it in order to obtain the 
means of subsistence." 



20 



He says further : 



"The large population of Barbadoes, the practice which formerly obtained thereof in- 
ducing white settlers, of an humble class, to emigrate by an offer of small grants of land, 
and the law which compelled the planter to maintain on his estate a fixed proportion of 
white persons, compared with the number of his slaves, have had I he effect of reducing 
a considerable number of white persons in that island to the rank of hired laborers ; and 
there, also, I have seen them engaged in digging can holes, which, I believe, is considered 
the severest labor to which the negro is exposed. It is nevertheless true, that, for a white 
man to labor in the field, is regarded in Barbadoes as a serious degredation. This, how- 
ever, is by no means the case in Porto Rico, where inveterate usage has reconciled the 
white laborer to the necessity of working, without a murmur, in the same field with his 
colored brethren, of every variety of complexion, and even with slaves." 

The question whether tropical productions, sugar, coffee, &c, in 
Cuba, depended on compulsory labor, was also discussed at great 
length at Havana, some years ago ; and a large portion of the intelli- 
gent people of the island came to the conclusion that it might be 
better done in another manner. This writer says, in the same book 
above quoted : 

"The question has therefore arisen, and has ever been proposed for public discussion in 
the 'Transactions of the Royal Patriotic Society of the Havana,' whether sugar can be 
successfully cultivated and manufactured in the island without the aid of compulsory la- 
bor. It was not easy, and might not have been prudent, for the Colonial Government to 
put the veto of censorship in a discussion whieh could not be supposed to originate in any 
sinister consideration ; and it has therefore been suffered to proceed without official inter- 
ference." 

In some States of the Union, probably a veto would have been put 
on it ; but it was not done in Havana : 

"In the mean time, it is no small gain for the cause of humanity, that a community so 
deeply committed to the trade with Africa, and hitherto so entirely dependent on the 
continuance of slavery, should become familiarized with such topics of discussion, and 
should habituata themselves to the contemplation of another state of things. 

"In the very outset of this discussion, it is laid down as an incontrovertible principle, 
that the labor of a single freeman, who works voluntarily and for his own interest, is at 
least equivalent to all that can be extracted from any two of the most robust of the Afri- 
can race. 

"The mode of proceeding proposed for the attainment of their object by the economists 
of Cuba throws more light than could be easily obtained through any other channel on 
the moral, intellectual, and physical condition of the island. Although they have before 
them the example of the sister island of Porto Rico, whose staple productions of sugar 
and coffee have long been successfully cultivated by the white descendants of the original 
colonists ; and although Cuba contains a greater number of white inhabitants than all the 
other islands of the Archipelago together ; it is only by the importation of white laborers 
from the Canaries, that the proposed object is to be attained. 

" Nay, while it is admitted that the whole of the field-labor can be sufficiently perform- 
ed by white men, it is held that negro assistance is necessary in the interior of the In- 
genio. This necessity is assumed, partly from the custom, invariable in Cuba, and hence 
thought indispensable, of keeping the mill and the boilers incessantly at work from the 
commencement of the crop season till the last of the canes are cut down ; and partly, also, 
from a very natural mistake, that a negro can support, better than a white man, a high 
artificial, as well as a high natural, temperature. The reverse has been completely de- 
monstrated on board the British Government steamers on duty within the tropics, where 
it was for some time supposed that negro stokers could be employed more advantageously 
and at less risk to their health than to that of the white men long accustomed to the duty 
in a colder climate. 

"The experience of several years has completely proved that an African constitution is 
not so well suited as that of a European to withstand the heat of the furnace, or, rather, 
the frequent alternations of heat and cold to which the stoker of a steamboat, and the 
fireman and boilerman of an ingenio (or engine) are equally exposed. When it is found 
that the fires can be extinguished, and the boilers suffered to cool during the night, with- 
out disadvantage, and that the heat of the furnace is, comparatively, not so detrimental 
to the white man as to the negro, some change will doubtless take place in the views of 



21 

the patriots and philanthropists of Cuba, as to the necessity of employing negroes — either 
in a state of slavery or freedom — in the interior of the sugar-houses. This matter is bet- 
ter understood in the English islands, where the white man's chief danger is supposed to 
consist in application to any active employment under a vertical sun. 

" The prize essay of Don Pedro Jose Morillas, which was crowned by the Royal Patri- 
otic Society with the patent of socio de merito, contains many interesting suggestions as to 
the substitution of the labor of white freemen»for that of negro slaves. He contends that 
the extreme cheapness of African labor is the sole cause why the white inhabitants of the 
West Indies have, by the mere disuse and want of exercise, lost a large proportion of their 
physical force. He denies, however, that the debility, arising from inaction, is so general 
as it is so commonly supposed to be. The young men, born and bred in the interior dis- 
tricts of the island, are so well formed and robust as to be able to withstand the extreme 
heat of the dog days and the cold of winter, which is not unknown in Cuba, with no other 
covering but the light linen vest which they wear all the year round. From sun to sun 
these men will make a journey of twenty leagues, on foot, without being worn out by the 
heat, or impeded by the suddenly swollen rivers, and with no encouragement to proceed 
but their cup of coffee and their cigar. Their dress is a linen shirt and pantaloons, a 
straw hat, and shoes of the untanned leather of the country. They carry, besides, a 
hammock and a single change of dress, which, with a sword and a long knife at their 
girdle, complete their equipment. When surprised by nightfall, they enter the nearest 
thicket and hang their hammock between two trees, where, after smoking their cigar, they 
sleep soundly till awakened by the song of birds, the cry of wild animals, and other sounds 
which serve, in a thinly peopled country, to intimate the approach of day. Yet these 
men show no signs of weakness, and live to a good old age. On such grounds, Senor Mo- 
rillas concludes that the (white) young men of the Havana need nothing but the habitual 
exercise of their muscular powers to enable them to rival, in activity, the Peon de tierra 
dentro. 

"It is the presence of slavery which, in the Island of Cuba, as in every other country 
where it exists, throws every sort of personal exertion into discredit. Because labor is 
the lot of slavery, the pride of the freeman is alarmed lest the line of demarkation should 
not be broad enough between him and the slave ; and he therefore abstains from working 
altogether. 

"If the sun of the tropics be less friendly to physical exertion than the climate of the 
temperate zones, it affords at least some compensation by fertilizing the soil and multiply- 
ing the crops which may be reaped from it. It is, moreover, a well-known fact, that, in 
the Island of Cuba, men of color are very rarely employed in the work of cutting down 
the timber ; and yet it will readily be admitted that, to fell with a hatchet a full-grown 
mahogany tree, is a task as arduous as most of those to which the ordinary field laborer 
is opposed. In some districts of the island, the Islefio from the Canaries, and the Gallego 
from the north of Spain, may be seen bent down at this employment from the dawn of day 
till sunset, without experiencing any bad consequences from it. The smiths and the car- 
penters of the island are, in like manner, almost all white men ; but although it is not un- 
common in Europe for a soldier to sink on the march, a similar failure, if we may believe 
the best informed inhabitants, is seldom heard of, either among the troops or the' white 
tradesmen of Cuba. 

"Compare the labor of cutting down the caobas, the chicharrones, and the quiebra-hachas, 
literally the break-hatchets of the country, or the less laborious employment of the car- 
penter at his bench, or the smith at his anvil, with the planting and cutting down of the 
sugar-cane, and you will probably find that the balance is greatly in favor of an employ- 
ment on which disgrace and discredit have been thrown by the exclusive application to it 
of the labor of slaves. Sugar, it has been seen, can be cultivated successfully 'by white 
men in Porto Rico ; and there is nothing in the climate of Porto Rico to distinguish it 
from that of the islands in its neighborhood." 

The truth is, that sugar and other tropical productions produced by 
slave labor, are produced at a very great waste. Scientific improve- 
ments, new modes of manufacture, are introduced where free white 
labor prevails, as is seen in France and Germany, and as alluded to 
in an article to which I desire soon to call attention. ISTow, sir, I say 
that when you consider the sufferings of the black race, so powerfully 
and eloquently depicted by the Senator from Louisiana, in Cuba, in 
the manufacture of sugar, almost any man of ordinary humanity would 
say that if sugar could not be produced in any other manner, the 



22 

human race had far better abandon its use; the luxury and comfort 
gained from sugar would not compensate, in the mind of any man of 
humanity, not to speak of an American Senator, for the indescribable 
suffering which, the Senator from Louisiana informs us, in the course 
of a few years, actually destroys the whole black race in Cuba. That 
is too expensive. ISTo man of humanity could desire to continue the 
manufacture of sugar in such a manner. Why, sir, there is, in the 
manufacture of sugar, a process of nitration through animal carbon — 
which is bone reduced to a carbonaceous substance by calcination in 
a closed vessel. That process is found to be a very useful improve- 
ment, but it could not for a while be carried out, because of the very 
great expense; the calcined bones being very soon rendered useless; 
until there was discovered what was called, technically, a mode of 
revivification, by which the animal carbon could be restored to its 
former value. But when you use the human sinew, and human mus- 
cle, and human bone in this way, there is no revivification ; you can- 
not restore them ; you destroy the whole race in less than one gene- 
ration, and are obliged to supply the places of the dead from the coast 
of Africa. Any man of ordinary humanity would say, the whole world 
had better abandon the use of such a luxury than to attain it at such 
a price. That, however, is not necessary; our philanthropy is driven 
to no such point. If the Island of Cuba were to-day annihilated, the 
manufacture of sugar would scarcely be diminished after the lapse of 
a few years. * 

I have before me an article in De Bow's Review, written, I think, 
by the Senator from Louisiana. I judge so partly from its style, and 
partly because it bears all the marks of his ability, and is signed with 
his initials — J. P. B. I have not asked the Senator whether he wrote 
it; but I believe he did. [Mr. Benjamin assented.] In this article, 
he inform us of the imporvements in the machinery and modes of 
manufacture adopted in France, and resulting from free labor. The 
Senator himself states enough to justify me in saying that, if Cuba 
were out of existence, this country and the world would have, from 
other sources, a sufficient supply of sugar, and in a very short time. 
He says: 

"The extent to which the production of sugar can be carried in Louisiana is apprecia- 
ted but by few; but those who reflect on the subject, and who feel an interest in all that 
concerns the prosperity of our State, foresee, with exultation, the day not far distant, 
when boundless tracts, now covered by the primeval forest, shall team with plenteous 
harvests of the cane; when nearly every plantation shall be a manufactory of refined 
sugar, supplying not only the wants of our own country, but forming a large item in our 
annual exports ; when, in a word, the industry and enterprise of our population shall suc- 
ceed in developing, to their full extent, the resources which a bounteous Providence has 
lavished on this favored land." — De Bow's Review, vol. 2, pages 344, 345. 

Ought we, then, to perpetuate slavery in Cuba, under such a terrible 
state of things, that, according to the Senator's own showing, almost 
the entire civilized world would rather abandon the use of sugar, 
could it be produced in no other way, and when, too, he tells us that 
sugar enough can he raised under the patriarchal system that prevails 
in Louisiana? I will not speak now of white labor; I will not speak 
of free labor ; I will not speak of the manner in which sugar is raised 



23 

in other free countries ; but the Senator informs us that the insti- 
tution, as it now exists in Louisiana, can not only supply the wants 
of Louisiana and of this country, but supply a large annual export 
to the rest of the world. Then, we may allow Cuba to pursue its 
own course; we may allow the cultivation of tropical products to 
be abandoned there, if the world will not suffer in consequence. 
I find, also, in this article, that the Senator intimates that it might 
be advantageous to have some white people, who know a little 
more than the blacks, to carry on the manufacture of sugar. In 
fact, the whole tenor of his argument shows that for the cultivation 
of sugar, you require intelligent, cultivated, skillful, and I might 
almost say free labor. It is very true, that it is claimed by many 
there is a portion of the work that cannot very well be accomplished 
by white labor ; but when you take the whole manufacture together, 
you find skill and ingenuity necessary. 

There are other modes in which sugar can be raised. How is sugar 
produced in France? You would suppose, from hearing the Senator 
from Louisiana, that if Cuba were out of the way, we should actually 
suffer for want of this luxury. There was a time, when, under the 
colonial system of Great Britain, under the system she pursued of 
cutting off all trade with France, that country was deprived entirely 
of the use of sugar. Her trade with the sugar-growing countries was 
entirely destroyed ; and what resource did Napoleon adopt ? He at 
o*nce introduced the manufacture of sugar from the beet root, and it 
has grown now to be one of the greatest interests in Europe, and is 
pursued extensively in France, Germany, Russia, and Poland. All 
over Europe the people are supplied with sugar, in a great measure, 
from their own labor. It would be so in a short time here, if it were 
not true that Louisiana is able to supply the world ; and we have been 
willing to give them all the protection they have asked. 

It seems, then, that this argument addressed to the physical comfort 
of the people of this country, that they need to acquire Cuba for the 
sake of increasing their luxuries to this extent, is entirely fallacious. 
If you wish to cheapen sugar, there is a direct mode of doing it — -just 
strike off your duty. Will the Senator from Louisiana propose to do 
that? I think he will find no very great objections to it on this side • 
of the House. That is an effectual mode by which sugar may be 
cheapened ; but it is entirely fallacious to argue that it is necessary, 
in order to supply the people of this country with this luxury, that 
we should perpetuate compulsory labor in Cuba. There is no such 
necessity ; if there were, our people would never consent that it should 
be done through their responsibility. It is too high a price to pay. 

Having attempted to dispose of that portion of the subject, I now 
come to another branch. I will state another objection which, it seems 
to me, may be made with great force to the present acquisition of 
Cuba, supposing that it might be acquired in the manner pointed out 
by this bill. I allude to the character, the habits, and the peculiari- 
ties of the people inhabiting that island. "What do we propose to do ? 
We do not propose to take them as a colony, to be goVerned by a pro- 
consul, by a viceroy. We do not propose to take them in any other 



24 

manner than as one or more sovereign States of this Union ; and, 
when we do so, we must guaranty to them republican institutions, and, 
for the first time in all our history, we shall find the duty of guaran- 
tying republican institutions a very arduous work. Are these people 
fit to come into our Government as equals ? What makes a people 
fit for free government? I take it that free institutions, such institu- 
tions as ours, are not a cause, but an effect. They are produced by 
the character of the people previously ; they do not create the people. 
Our people, with the character they already possess, created our in- 
stitutions,. Our institutions did not create the people. They prac- 
ticed self-government long before those self-evident truths were pro- 
nounced by Mr. Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence. That 
was no new discovery. The State of Connecticut, the State of Mas- 
sachusetts, and other States, were perfectly well prepared by long 
practice, which had continued from generation to generation, and had 
become hereditary, for free institutions ; and, at this very day, if you 
were to shatter this Union iuto its original elements, the State of Con- 
necticut, the State of Massachusetts, and, perhaps, every other State, 
could go on with its government precisely as it now does, because 
they are all practiced in self-government. The sovereignty which I, 
in part, represent, went on for more than one hundred years before 
the Revolution, and has now been practicing self-government for two 
hundred years ; and never had a Governor who was not chosen by 
itself. We never had a ro} r al Governor. Such were the people who 
established our institutions. The people made the institutions, not 
the institutions the people. Now, let us look at these people of Cuba. 
What kind of institutions can they establish or sustain ? Mr. Clay, 
in his first letter on this subject, to which I allude, gives his opinion 
in -regard to their fitness for self-government. He says : 

"The population of the islands is incompetent at present, from its composition and its 
amount, to maintain self-government." 

That was the opinion of Mr. Clay, in 1825. Have they improved 
since? I doubt it. The difficulty is in the race. All southern Sena- 
tors claim that the black portion of that population are unfit for self- 
government, and they constitute a large proportion. How is it with 
the whites? They are not of our race. They are of a race which 
has never yet succeeded with self-government. In considering this 
subject, a comparison has been sometimes made with the annexation 
of Florida and Louisiana. In Louisiana there were scarcely any peo- 
ple; in Florida there were not many ; and at this very clay, they send 
no Spaniards here to represent them in the Senate. They send men 
with good Anglo-Saxon names, and with good Saxon blood running 
in their veins. Those people never were a foreign people. That was 
not the annexation of a foreign country, although it has been spoken 
of sometimes as if it were. It was the annexation, for the most part, 
of virgin soil, not peopled ; and, therefore, from that no analogy can 
be drawn. 

But what are these people ? I have here a short description of their 
character, to sh«w you that they are totally unfit to come into the 
Union to-day as citizens of a republican government. They are more 



25 

unfit than any nation of Europe ; far more so than Spain at this mo- 
ment. "We suppose that certain notions of individual equality are 
necessary to prepare a people for self-government. They should ex- 
ist beforehand, as they did exist here in the early settlement of our 
country. Notions of individual liberty and personal freedom, existed 
long before the Declaration of Independence. Is there anything of 
that kind in the Island of Cuba? Let us see what the state of society 
is there. I read from the same book to which I before referred, Turn- 
bull's Cuba, page 49 : 

"The distinction of ranks among the various classes of society is as carefully kept up 
in Cuba as in the most aristocratic countries in the Old World. The first includes the 
resident grandees of 8pain, of whom there are about thirty; the Titulos of Castile, re- 
sembling as nearly as possible the anomalous rank of Baronet of England; and the Ha- 
cendados, or landed gentry of this island. Next after them come the Empleados, or civil 
functionaries in the public offices, of whom, at the Havana alone, there are said to be one 
thousand ; and on the same level with these gentlemen may be placed the officers of the 
Br ray and navy. The merchants, Spanish, creole, or foreign, hold only the third place in 
the order of precedency. After them come their clerks, French, English, North American, 
or German; such of them as come from Spain being chiefly Gaditanos. Retail merchants 
and shopkeepers hold a still lower station ; they come in general irom the Canaries, Cat- 
alonia, Biscay, or North America. The Gallegos, like our own Irish laborers, occupy the 
lowest place "in the social scale; the colored and negro race being tabooed altogether. 
The emigrants from old Spain and the Canaries, but especially the Catalans and Gallegos, 
with their descendants, may be considered a permanent addition to the population ; but 
foreigners, who generally come as clerks and depart as merchants, take root but rarely." 

That is the state of society in Cuba at this day. Banks are as well 
settled and established there as they are in any country of Europe. 
There is no notion of personal equality there. The great self-evident 
truth " that all men are created equal" has never been discovered 
there. Do you suppose you can force it on them by bringing them 
into this country ? Surely not in one generation. But the Senator 
from Louisiana, in his report, gives us rather a different picture of the 
state of the island in that respect. He says : 

"The feeling of caste or race is as marked in Cuba as in the United States. The white 
Creole is as free from all taint of African blood as the descendant of the Goth on the 
plains of Castile. There is a numerous white peasantry, brave, robust, sober, and honest, 
not yet, perhaps, prepared intelligently to discharge all the duties of the citizen of a free 
republic, but who, from his organization, physical and mental, is capable of being eleva- 
ted by culture to the same level with the educated Cubans, who, as a class, are as refined, 
Well-informed, and fitted for self-government as men of any class of any nation can be 
who have not inhaled with their breath the atmosphere of freedom. 

" Many of them, accompanied by their families, are to be met with every summer at 
our cities and watering places, observing and appreciating the working of our form of 
government and its marvelous results; many seeking, until the arrival of more auspicious 
days, an asylum from the oppression that has driven them from their homes; while hun- 
dreds of their youths in our schools and colleges are acquiring our language, and fitting 
themselves hereafter, it is to be hoped at no distant day, to play a distinguished part in 
their own legislative halls, or in the councils of the nation." 

I have had the honor of seeing some of those distinguished men, 
and, no doubt, they are men of very high characters; but they are 
the thirty grandees who are described in the book from which I read. 
I have seen them, at a respectful distance, at the watering-places al- 
luded to by the honorable Senator ; and while their behavior has cer- 
tainly been gentlemanly and proper, I could never see that their stu- 
dies were much occupied in " observing and appreciating the working 
of our form of government," and studying its principles and details 



28 

in order to reduce it to practice in their own country. That picture 
drawn by the Senator from Louisiana is, by far, too flattering to the 
people of Cuba, as regards their fitness for self-government. 

Now, I shall assume that the people of Cuba are very similar to 
the Spanish people. In point of fact they are of Spanish descent, 
Spanish blood, and Spanish culture. They are no better than the 
people of Spain to-day. I have before me a book, written by a very 
eminent scholar and gentleman, which is a standard work, I think, 
upon the subject of the character of the people of Spain. I know it 
was so, some years ago, and I do not know of anything on the subject 
that has been written better since. It is entitled, "A year in Spain, 
by a young American, A. Slidell Mackenzie." He gives us his views 
on the subject of the fitness of the Spanish people for self-govern- 
ment. He says : 

"Never have those much abused words, liberty and civilization, been so often invoked 
in the cause of persecution and murder, as in the Spain of our day. The liberals have 
far outstripped the fanatics who preceded them, in the perpetration of injustice and in« 
humanity. They have been more fanatical than the fanatics themselves, and fanatical 
against religion ; clemency is usually found to accompany power; but the Spanish liber- 
als have all the ferocity of weakness and vacillation. The sacredness of life, liberty, and 
property, is equally disregarded by them. If they let the tongues of the multitude wag 
more freely than before, still it is only after one fashion. It was the liberals of Spain 
Who first began the slaughter of prisoners in cold blood, and in the name of civilization ; 
it was they who first denied to the gentler sex its immunities." 

He sums up in these words : 

"The beauty of a Government is not wholly intrinsic. It consists of its adaptability 
to the peculiar condition, habits, and manners of the people who live under it. Our form 
of Government is beautiful, not merely in itself, but because it has strong foundations in 
our national character, in the love of order and sense of probity bequeathed to us by our 
British ancestors, in the condition of property, in the habits of self-government, as old 
as the era of our origin as colonies, and in universal intelligence, fostering and fostered by 
the system under which we live. The same Government, excellent and beautiful, as it is 
admitted to be, without other modification than occurred in translating the document 
which embodied its precepts from one language into another, has been adopted by Mexico 
and other Spanish American States, prematurely severed by revolution from their parent 
State. What have been the consequences? Have they been order, security of life and 
property, the supremacy ©f the law, the rapid development of the national resources? 
Not at all. They have been anarchy one day, followed by military despotism the next, 
and anarchy and military despotism again, until the world has ceased to be attentive to 
the oft-repeated intelligence of wars and revolutions. And so it would be with Spain, 
with a form of government borrowed from England." 

So it would be with Cuba, with a form of government borrowed 
from this country. The difficulty with Mexico and the nations of 
South America, who have tried this experiment, has been in the char- 
acter of the race. I doubt whether the race is -capable of self-govern- 
ment. You see what Mr. Clay thought of the power of those Gov- 
ernments in the first instance. He thought Columbia and Mexico 
were so powerful that we should make a treaty with them to guaranty 
Cuba to Spain against all the world. Now they make a new govern* 
ment in Mexico as often as the Democratic party in this country 
makes a new platform. A new constitution is made there quite as 
frequently. Suppose you attempt to establish a republican govern- 
ment in Cuba ; what will be the result ? Both tne Senators from 
Louisiana, and others seem to think you have only to carry our insti- 
tutions there, and that you will have a republican form of govern* 



27 

ment at once. I say to you you will find it necessary to enforce it ; 
you will find it necessary to guaranty and defend it, and it will require 
all the efforts of your Government to do it. You never can establish 
it in spirit, though you may do it in form. The bribery and corrup- 
tion that prevail there now will prevail in their elections. You will 
have worse than violent revolutions, you will have deep-seated cor- 
ruption at the foundation of all your attempts to establish republi- 
canism, and in that way you may throw disgrace over the very name. 
I do not think it best for us to force that people, in their present 
condition, to come under our form of government. It would be no 
blessing to them, and certainly would be none to us. 

But, sir, there is another consideration arising out of the enormous 
expense proposed. I do not speak now of the $150,000,000, or more, 
to be paid for the island ; because that would be a small proportion of 
the ultimate expense. But suppose it cost that sum : there is the in- 
terest on that money ; then, there is the expense of sustaining and 
establishing a government in Cuba. The Spaniards find it necessary 
to keep twenty-five or thirty thousand troops there for some purpose. 
It certainly is not to prevent the slave-trade. I doubt very much 
whether it is entirely to keep down the Creoles. I am afraid that it 
is to keep down the blacks. There are some three or four hundred 
thousand free blacks there to-day ; and I am apprehensive that, if the 
troops were removed, you would find repeated the scenes which have 
been described by the Senator from Florida this morning. But, sup- 
pose we could get along with ten thousand troops : if they should cost 
us as much as our troops in this country do — and probably they would 
cost quite as much, if not more — there would be an expense of 
$10,000,000 a year. That, added to your other expenses, would make 
over twenty million dollars a year. If you follow this measure out, 
in all its ramifications, you will find that the expenses of the Govern- 
ment will be increased in every imaginable degree. When I say this, 
I do not speak merely of the bare expenditure of the money. That 
is an evil, but is comparatively a small consideration. You cannot 
pay out large sums of money from the Government without produ- 
cing deep-seated corruption. That is the great danger. You destroy, 
subvert, the whole character of your republican institutions. There 
is no Senator here, who does not know perfectly well that every pub- 
lic and private vice follows in the train of prodigality. I am sur- 
prised when I see southern gentlemen, who are the advocates of 
economy, not for the bare sake of money-saving, but because they 
wish to preserve our Government in its original purity; Senators who 
claim to have somewhat of the feeling of the Madisonian era, of the 
Jeffersonian era, and even of the Washingtonian era, now willing to 
submit this Government to the trial of such a vast increase of its 
patronage and its expenditure. If there is anything from which we 
have cause to fear, it is from the vastly-increasing amount of the pat- 
ronage and expenditure of the General Government. In extending 
our limits at home within the two oceans, we must necessarily extend 
these expenses ; but, when we go abroad to take in a foreign country, of 
different habits and different races, and attempt to force on them re- 



28 

publican institutions, we cannot but cause a vastly increased expen- 
diture ; and the consequences which I have named will most certainly 
follow. 

It is said that the people of the North ought to be in favor of the 
acquisition of Cuba, and the people of New England particularly, be- 
cause it will extend their trade. I have to say for the people of my 
own State, that while they are desirous, so far as can properly be 
done, of extending all those advantages, they wish to reap no advan- 
tage by the extension of their trade, at the expense of the true princi- 
ples of this Government. They claim to be no more patriotic than 
other States, but I do not think they can be influenced by this argu- 
ment that their trade is to be extended, and that they ought, therefore, 
to consent to a proposition which violates the principles of onr Gov- 
ernment. They claim only to walk with equal steps, with other 
States, in the path of patriotism, but they do not desire to advance 
their material interests at the expense of principle. If they had any 
such desire, I think they might possibly do well to inquire, if they 
look at it merely in respect to the material advantage to be gained, 
whether they will receive any very great advantage by bringing into 
this Union four Senators, and eight Representatives at least, who will 
be, by position and by connection, opposed to all their dearest inte- 
rests. I think they might very well consider that, if they were to 
regard the mere question of advantage. 

The Senator from Florida closed his remarks by denying that it was 
or should be one of the great objects of our pursuit, to adorn and cultivate 
what we have. He argued that we ought, instead of that, to devote our- 
selves to pursuing some further acquisitions. I confess that I cannot 
agree with him in this sentiment. It is not long since we were told 
that we were to have an ocean-bound Republic ; that we were to ex- 
tend from ocean to ocean. The Senator from Illinois claimed to 
be the father of that doctrine, but it was originated many years be- 
fore his day. The Romans had the same sentiment, '.' Imperitirp, 
oceano,famam qui terminet astris y" which, if I were freely to trans- 
late it, so as to avoid a translation by my friend from New Hampshire, 
(Mr. Hale,) might be supposed to mean " our empire is bounded by 
the ocean, our glory by the stars" — and stripes added. Now you pro- 
pose to go beyond this ; to leave the idea of an ocean-bound Republic, 
and to go in search of foreign nations to be annexed to our own — and 
for what purpose ? I have already indicated what seemed to me to 
be the great object, as given by the Senator from Louisiana, (Mr. 
Benjamin.) I have stated somewhat at length some of the objections 
which I have to the proposition to place thirty millions in the hands 
of the President by this bill. All of them seem to me important ; 
but I will not conceal from you that the reason offered by the Sena- 
tor from Louisiana for the present acquisition of Cuba, namely, the 
perpetuation there of African slavery, is to me the most ample rea- 
son for its rejection. I have no desire, and I believe the people I 
represent have no desire, to interfere with the institutions of the States 
of this Union. They will yield to them all their rights under the 
Constitution. But when you ask them, in addition to this, not only 



29 

to extend slavery into free territory, but to go beyond, and annex to 
this Union foreign nations and foreign people, for the purpose of per- 
petuating compulsory labor, they object most emphatically. 

Do you ask why we are unwilling to extend slavery, to add more 
slave States to this Union ? Not because we desire to gain, or to keep 
political power. It is for a higher and nobler reason. Slavery, 
wherever it exists, must, necessarily, disgrace and degrade free labor. 
The opinions expressed at the last session of Congress by an honora- 
ble Senator from South Carolina, on this floor, and by other Senators 
on other occasions, though severely animadverted upon at the time, 
are the logical result of the system of slave labor which prevails in 
our southern States ; and which the Senator from Louisiana proposes 
by this bill to perpetuate in Cuba. They are the legitimate conse- 
quence of a policy permitting the existence of a servile class in a com- 
munity, subjected to the actual ownership of those for whom they 
labor. In other words, a policy which permits capital to own the 
labor it employs, necessarily degrades all similar labor in which free- 
men may be occupied. It is impossible for any manual labor to be 
considered honorable, while it is almost exclusively performed by 
slaves, and is thereby made a badge of slavery. This, sir, is one of 
the strongest objections existing in the minds of the people of the 
North to the extension of slavery into the Territories now free. The 
humanitarian objection has great weight with many, and, so far as it 
can be shown, that the condition of the slave will be rendered more 
intolerable by the extension of slavery, that objection alone would be 
sufficient. But aside from this, leaving out of view all considerations 
of humanity or justice, it is a sufficient objection to the introduction 
of slavery into any Territory, and to the introduction into our system 
of any foreign slaveholding State ; that free labor is degraded by con- 
tact with slavery. It is in that point of view that I now wish to con- 
sider it. What is free labor in a community where slavery does not 
exist, and what is the same labor in a slaveholding State? Look at 
the condition of free labor in my own State, and the estimation in 
which it is there held. The population of that ancient commonwealth 
has not doubled in the eighty-three years which have passed since the 
Declaration of Independence. Yet, if the vast multitude of her in- 
dustrious sons and daughters whom she has given to populate, and 
build up and enrich otner States had remained within her borders, 
her soil could scarcely have sustained them. Every State in the great 
West owes her a debt of gratitude for the people she has supplied 
them. Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and those younger sisters, Iowa, 
Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Oregon, with Kansas, soon, I trust, to be 
a State, all count among their best citizens emigrants and the descend- 
ants of emigrants from Connecticut. The immense region occupied 
by those States has been made what it has now become, by the labor, 
the free, voluntary, compensated labor, of men who have carried with 
them the principles of the early settlers of New England, and their 
habits of unremitting industry. In no other way could that wilder- 
ness have been subdued, and made to blossom as the rose. The sen- 
timents of our people have thus been scattered like seed ; literally 



30 

disseminated far and wide, throughout the western States ; and there 
the j have taken root, and are flourishing in their matured growth. 
What is felt there, with regard to the character of free labor, is only 
the transplanted sentiment of the State from which they received so 
large a proportion of their population. 

Now, sir, to say that the people of New England, and their de- 
scendants in the West, have always looked upon labor as honorable, 
is but feebly to express their sentiments. They consider idleness dis- 

fraceful. They know that to be idle is to be vicious. They know 
ow this earth was designed by its maker to be subdued and culti- 
vated by human hands — whose labor should be guided by a free 
human intellect. The vulgar, unphilosophical idea, that human labor, 
in whatever useful occupation it may be employed, is dishonorable, 
has no place among their opinions. With them, " work is worship." 
This sentiment, sir, was at the foundation of their institutions. The 
idea of the dishonorable grade of manual labor — as compared with 
such occupations as war, hunting, marauding, and the like — came 
from the degradation of a class, in the ages when the masses of mankind 
were subjected, by conquest, to the rule of the few. The monarch 
and his companions were the masters; their subjects were menial 
laborers. Useful labor was, therefore, considered degrading. Yet 
this was not the result of education, or refinement, or high culture. 
On the contrary, in all ages, the most cultivated and refined nations 
have most respected labor. The name of the man who first wrought 
in brass and iron, was deemed worthy to be recorded in Holy Writ. 
The son of Jupiter is described by the Greek poets, toiling at the 
anvil, and forging the shield of Hercules, and the armor of Achilles. 
Not to the intellects of those early days — unsurpassed even yet in 
exquisite taste and lofty sentiment — who looked on life and its duties 
with the unclouded eyes of an age not yet corrupted by the accumu- 
lated follies and vices of thousands of years of progress, could any such 
idea present itself, as that the labor of the human hand, in any useful 
occupation is dishonorable. That notion was reserved for a later time ; 
and had its origin, as it has and must have its support and advocacy, 
in a system of slavery. It is idle, therefore, to denounce those who, 
on this floor and elsewhere, have stigmatised manual laborers and 
operatives as slaves, however indignant we may justly be. The idea 
is not theirs : it is the idea of their system. Negro slavery does, in 
truth, not only enslave the African race, but, in every community 
where it exists, it also includes, in the chains of its bondage, the labor 
of the white man. For him I now speak. Let those Senators who 
consider what they call hireling labor degrading, visit the North, and 
a new vision will greet their eyes ; intelligent, free-labor, with its 
ample rewards, its happy firesides — the homes of education and refine- 
ment ; its hours of leisure, for the studies which fit freemen for their 
political duties ; its means of educating the children, who, while the 
father bends in cheerful toil over the plow, the bench, or the anvil, 
are laying the foundations of that learning, which is preparing them 
to become your authors, your inventors, your teachers, your Govern- 
ors, your Senators, and the Presidents of your Republic. 



31 

Such are the people, and such is free-labor, where slavery is un- 
known. Now, sir, what would' be the same people, and what their 
labor, in a slaveholding State % 

We, sir, object to the extension of slavery into any free territory. 
Southern men can see no reason for this, but a desire to invade and 
violate the rights of the South. It seems to them aggressive. Sir, 
their own philosophy ought to furnish them with a satisfactory reason 
for our opposition to the introduction of foreign slave States into our 
Union, and to the extension of slavery over territory now free. We 
do not need them to instruct us, that where slavery exists free labor is 
degraded, and dethroned from its natural, rightful position. Where 
a mechanic can be bought in the market overt, mechanics will 
rank as chattels, and will not be very likely to be selected to govern 
the State. 

Mr. Keid. I understand the Senator from Connecticut to take the 
position that slave labor degrades free labor in the States where 
slavery exists. 

Mr. Dixon. Certainly I do ; that is my position. 

Mr. Keid. The Senator from Connecticut has certainly given to 
me a piece of information that I did not expect to hear, for, so far as 
my observation extends in a State where slavery exists, it is not so 
regarded there ; and I should think people of the region of the coun- 
try where slavery exists, would have a better opportunity of judging 
of that fact than gentlemen who reside where slavery does not exist. 

Mr. Dixon. I founded my remarks mainly on the opinions which 
have been expressed on this floor and elsewhere by southern Senators, 
in regard to the labor of operatives what they call hireling laborers 
at the North. They have been denounced in more than one place, 
not to speak of the debates on this floor, as virtually slaves. I have 
seen that in more than one speech delivered at the South, from which, 
if I had time, I might quote. Although this excites indignation in 
the minds of the people of the North, it is the legitimate result and 
consequence of the institutions of the South. 

[Mr. Keid renewed his denial.] 

Mr. Dixon. I think the Senator will admit, that every species of labor 
which is performed for the most part by slaves, a servile class held as 
property by those for whom they labor, must become the badge of sla- 
very, and be degraded. It may be that certain higher classes of labor 
not performed by slaves, which require more intelligence and more in- 
genuity, may be to a certain extent respected in that community ; 
but I say, that where labor for the most part is performed by slaves, 
the legitimate logical result is that free labor will be held in the 
estimation in which the Senator from South Carolina stated at the 
last session, that he held it. I doubt very much whether the 
Senator from North Carolina would deny my assertion, that 
where mechanics are advertised for sale ; where you can buy a me- 



32 




015 999 737 6 



chanic in the market overt, mechanics -will be held to be a subject 
and degraded class. Suppose you were to advertise a physician] 
a lawyer, or a minister, to be sold at the block, as you advertise 
faithful, honest, industrious, intelligent mechanic, will the Senatoi 
say that the result, the tendency of that, would not be to degrade 
those professions ? If a single instance would not do it, suppose it 
was the habit, the custom, the law, in any State, that lawyers, an( 
ministers, and physicians should be held as property, and sold ad 
personal chattels. I think, then, lawyers, and ministers, and physi-j 
cians in that State would rank as chattels. 

[Mr. Reid repeated that in North Carolina labor was held in re«j 
6pect.] 

Mr. Dixon. I am very glad to hear that, in the State of Norti 
Carolina, free labor is somewhat respected. I think it is very likehj 
that it is more respected there, than in some other States where slavery! 
is of a more malignant type. But I deny utterly — it is not true ; every! 
man who knows anything about it knows it is not true ; it cannot bel 
true— that free, intelligent labor stands on its rightful position, and| 
occupies its true, natural ground in a State where capital owns labor. 
As a general rule, I pronounce it entirely impossible. It needs no I 
argument ; a bare statement of the fact is enough ; and that is well 
understood by the free people of the North. They know perfectly J 
well what the effect of this system must be. 

Can you wonder, then, that our laborers, who are joint owners with] 
you of our Territories, will not consent to their being subjected to 
slavery ? Their free labor is their wealth, in exchange for which they 
intend to transfer some considerable portion of that territory to them- 
selves. But what do you demand ? That capital should there, as in j 
your own slaveholding States, own labor. Can you expect labor toj 
agree to that \ I beg leave to say that the free labor of the North is 
proverbially intelligent. I incline to think that nowhere, on the face 
of this earth, can be found a more intelligent race, than the free labor- 
ing men of the North. They know, very. well, what must be the effect i 
upon them of a system of law by which capital shall be made the 
owner of labor. They know that the views to which I have alluded 
are the necessary result, the logical consequence of the long-continued 
existence of slavery in the States represented by those who entertain 
them. They know that labor must, in all slave States, lose its 
ennobling, its divine character, and that in the perverted estimation 
of men, whose judgment is clouded by a false system of education, 
the cunning work of that most wonderful instrument, the human I 
hand — the marvelous invention of a Divine artisan — will be despised 
and degraded. Therefore, it is, that never by their consent, never if 
they can by any lawful means prevent it ; never through fear of any 
personal or any political consequences, will their free, intelligent labor 1 
be subjected, in the Territories of this Government, to a degrading 
competition with the labor of African slaves; nor, sir, <will they ever 
consent that their treasure shall be expended in a forced purchase 
from an unwilling nation, of slave territory, for the avowed purpose { 
of perpetuating therein compulsory labor. 



■ffillll 

JM)15 999 737 6 



